An In-Depth Look at 4 Ultra-compact Digicams
by Stephen Caston on July 18, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Digital Camera
The Timing Tests
* NOTE: For all of our time tests, the cameras are reset to their factory default settings and set to record using the highest resolution and quality setting. They are set to record in Auto mode. We also disabled all sounds and "welcome" screens. We used a PNY 512 MB SD card, Fujifilm 512 MB xD card, and a SanDisk 512 MB Memory Stick Pro Duo.Before reading our results, please refer to our Testing Procedures page.
Startup Time
The startup time is recorded from the moment that the power button is pushed to the moment that the shutter sounds. All cameras are set to record in Auto mode.| Startup time (seconds) | |
| Sony DSC-T33 | 1.59 |
| Canon SD400 | 1.90 |
| Nikon S1 | 2.95 |
| Olympus IR-300 | 4.08 |
With respect to startup time, the Sony DSC-T33 wins by a small amount over the Canon SD400. The Nikon S1 is still pretty fast at 2.95 seconds. The Olympus IR-300 takes a much longer time to start up compared to the other cameras at 4.08 sec. If you consider that the Canon SD400 is the only one in the bunch that extends its lens during startup, its performance here is even more remarkable.
Auto-Focus and Shutter Lag
To record shutter lag, we perform two tests with the lens at its widest angle setting. For the first test, we pre-focus the lens and measure the amount of time that it takes the camera to take a picture after the shutter button is pressed. The second test measures the time that it takes for the camera to take a picture after we press the shutter button without pre-focusing. Each test is performed 3 times and the results are averaged. For these tests, we enabled the auto area point selection function for each camera (if applicable). For more information regarding our testing procedures, please refer to our Testing Procedures page.| With Pre-focus (seconds) | Without Pre-focus (seconds) | |
| Sony DSC-T33 | ‹0.01 | 0.38 |
| Canon SD400 | 0.04 | 0.57 |
| Nikon S1 | 0.03 | 0.64 |
| Olympus IR-300 | 0.13 | 0.94 |
The Sony DSC-T33 is clearly the fastest camera here in terms of shutter and focus lag. In general, we have been impressed by the speed of all Sony cameras that we have tested. The Canon SD400 is the second fastest followed very closely by the Nikon S1. We weren't terribly impressed with the Olympus IR-300 in our lag tests. In fact, none of the Olympus digicams that we have ever tested have achieved a faster pre-focused shutter lag time faster than 0.13. When we included focusing in the lag time, the IR-300 took nearly a second to take a picture after pressing the shutter button. In addition, the Olympus IR-300 is the only camera out of the four that showed different lag times when we disabled the auto area AF function. We were a bit surprised to see that the IR-300 took longer (1.28 sec.) to focus and shoot when set to "Spot AF" as opposed to "Auto AF".
Write Times
We recorded 5 different write times using a PNY 512 MB SD card, Fujifilm 512 MB xD card, and a SanDisk 512 MB Memory Stick Pro Duo.Single Shot - The time that it takes for a single picture to be written completely to the flash card (the time that the "activity light" is on).
Shot To Shot (STS) - The time until the second shot can be taken after the first (shutter to shutter).
Shot To Shot w/Flash - The time that it takes the camera to take two pictures with the flash (from flash to flash).
Shot To Shot w/Buffer Full - The time between the last shot that fills the buffer to the moment that the shutter sounds again.
Clear Buffer - The time that it takes the camera to clear the buffer after a full burst of pictures has been taken.
We performed each test three times and averaged the results. Below are the resolution, quality setting, and average file size used for the tests.
| Resolution (pixels) | Quality setting | Avg. file size (MB) | |
| Canon SD400 | 2592x1944 | Superfine | 3.14 |
| Nikon S1 | 2592x1944 | 5M* | 1.68 |
| Olympus IR-300 | 2560x1920 | Super High | 0.83 |
| Sony DSC-T33 | 2592x1944 | Fine | 2.20 |
| Single Shot | Shot to Shot | Shot to Shot w/Flash | Shot to Shot w/Buffer Full | Clear Buffer | |
| Canon SD400 | N/A | 1.46 | 5.70 | N/A | N/A* |
| Nikon S1 | N/A | 1.93 | 6.55 | 2.98 | 10.91 |
| Olympus IR-300 | 1.51 | 2.33 | 6.48 | 3.37 | 4.26 |
| Sony DSC-T33 | 0.90 | 1.04 | 5.43 | N/A | 8.75 / 4.96 |
In keeping consistent with every other Sony digicam that we have tested in the past, the Sony T33 proves to have an incredibly fast cycle time of 1.04 sec. without the flash. The Canon SD400 has the second fastest cycle time of 1.46 sec. followed by the Nikon S1 and the Olympus IR-300. With the flash enabled, the cameras slow down fairly evenly with the Sony T33 in the lead followed by the Canon SD400. When set to Continuous drive, the most impressive camera was the Canon SD400, which could take images at 2.11 fps for 18 frames. If a faster flash card is used in the SD400, it could continue shooting at this rate until the flash card is filled up. The runner up was the Nikon S1, which took between 14 and 18 frames at 1.61 fps. Again, with a faster flash card, the number of frames would probably be much higher. The Sony T33 has two continuous drive modes. When we set it to "Burst", it was able to take 9 frames at 1.35 fps. When set to "Speed Burst", the T33 was able to take 4 frames at 3.23. The Olympus IR-300 put in a rather mediocre performance, taking 6 frames at 1.29 fps.
We had some difficulty measuring our "Shot to Shot w/Buffer Full" portion because it was impossible for us to fill the buffer for either the Canon SD400 or Sony T33 by taking images one at a time. However, with the Nikon S1, we had to wait nearly 3 seconds (2.98) before shooting another frame after filling the buffer. For the Olympus IR-300, the wait was 3.37 sec. After filling the buffer with a continuous burst of images, the Nikon S1 took the longest to clear its buffer at 10.91 sec. The next slowest was the Sony DSC-T33 followed by the Olympus IR-300.
* We were unable to measure the Canon SD400's buffer clearing time accurately simply because we could never fill the buffer. However, after shooting anything over 18 frames in continuous drive mode, we found that the SD400 took approximately 2 seconds to finish writing data to the SD card.
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stephencaston - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
Thanks for catching that Jarred, I've fixed it now.Tujan - Wednesday, July 20, 2005 - link
None of these cameras seem to get that soft lime-green colored square. Top right.What IS the true color of that 'Engineering Bldg.?
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Which,or how well do these cameras work to create DVDs. How to determine this.Wich propietor has the best software. Wich software suite works best with wich camera to do so ? [ ]
.........
Most reviews miss this aspect of features for a camera.I've read for example,codec articles,wich tell of specificities of 'formats,and playback. Generally what you do with your output depends on how you want to use it though.Then what playback device/medium is wished to use. Some formats do not work so well with creation of DVDs.Or authoring. Those wich are most ubiquotous will give you most satisfaction for your camera.
You might think that for example,that favorite movie you caught would be great to send to grandma. You can't capture it again though. However its an extra step to re-process the capture. So quality count of a good camera becomes the question of being able to edit from its usable format.What each uses,and how well it keeps the original intented quality for the use you want it to.
Some Cameras will use the MPEG4 format for example.However the utility of editing this format to DVD is difficult to find exact detail from any reviews. In trying to keep of what you see is what you have using the Camera.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - link
You link for the Sony movie clip is broken. You've got a ".jpg" at the end of the file name. The Canon looks pretty nice, though I'm still holding out for SLR. Give me a few more months....Thatkid - Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - link
number 21 it is possible i actually took a hard looka t my camera as well nikon sometimes uses diffrent metals in there cameras im speaking from my experiance using there profresional cameras and they feel plastic but i did open the bettery lid and its a pretty thick metal shell. But you are right it defenately feels diffrent from the sont and cannon. the sony is brushed stainless teel i belive and is ver hard. the canon sd400 feels great its a small and dense feeling camera. they are very diffrent and when compared to the feel of these cameras it deos feel as if it were plastic but compare it to your mouse of keybaord or some sort of video game controller and youll see its a wierd metal.stephencaston - Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - link
#19, thats interesting. The sample we reviewed definitely felt like plastic and made a plastic sound when I tapped on the shell with my fingernail. It felt nothing like the solid metal of the SD400 or the T33. It didn't even feel cool to the touch after leaving it in air-conditioning like metal should. Perhaps the body is made of a very thin metal surrounded by plastic. Either that or you and I received different versions.PrinceGaz - Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - link
That Canon SD400 certainly looks very nice, not as high a resolution as the top-end SD500 but a bit smaller and lighter than it which is important to me. If I needed a replacement camera, that would be the one I'd go for.It's worth noting that in the UK (and maybe other countries) the Canon SD400 is called the Canon IXUS 50, but apart from the name is otherwise identical.
Thatkid - Tuesday, July 19, 2005 - link
the nikon is made with an all metal body if you want to refrence that see Http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php?cat=1&grp=2&productNr=25529the bottom of the page says in bold compact super slim metal body. i know this also because i own one.
my friend has a SD400 weve done all the posible real life senario test possible night time shooting in clubs both get the same exact looking prints some small discrepensies in color cast in the pictures but other then that same performance on both awsome cameras. one thing this article didnt mention is the annoying yellow cast in all the sony t33 pictures sony may advertise 1000+ shots for the t33 but with flash and normal usage checking you pics and that kinda stuff maybe 100 - 150 shots on one baterry. i had the t33 and returned it when i took a picture of the best buy roof only to find it looking extremly orange.
IceWindius - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
Canon wins again, go figure. My A85 farking rocks, I love it!ShadowVlican - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
w00t canon wins again, happy i choose an A95rubikcube - Monday, July 18, 2005 - link
Been in the market for a camera for a while and was considering the digital rebel xt for quality concerns. After I read this review, I decided that the quality wouldn't be that different, so I ran out and bought the SD400. Thanks for the great review.